Automobile hood



June 1940- J. HALTENBERGER 2,204,990

AUTOMOBILE HOOD Filed July 20, 1939 L -.L j

Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED S ATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE noon JulesHaltenberger, dnn Arbor, Mich. Application July 20, 195i, Serial No.285,539

3 Claims.

The present application is a modification of my copending' applicationfor Automobile hood" Serial No. 204,717 filed April 28, 1938, now Patent2,188,891. 1 I

Alligator hood constructions now in use are usually provided with a pairof differential hinges in association with coil spring positioners, re-

quiring 8 hinge. fulcrum points. These hinge points require accurate andexact co-relations and as groups they have to be aligned and adiustedfor each automobile to compensate for the variations in the productionerror of each car. Hood aligning and adjusting is a skilled art;consequently, it is expensive, and the frequent introduction of newvariations delays production, and makes servicing difilcult.

It is here proposed to provide analligator hood with but two hingepoints, arranged for. an autoi'natic vertical adjustment of the hood,and to provide, from an accessible place, for the longitudinaladjustment.

A further object is to provide a torsion spring wholly supported by thestationary cowl, arranged to press the hood downwardly in its wholelength when the hood is in closed position and also to hold the hood inopen position.

A further object is to provide an automatic self-tightening hood lock,eliminating the usual manually operated lock that is often forgotten,

and also eliminating the necessity for various safety catch devices toprevent the damage caused by forgetfulness.

' A further object is to provide the hood lock with a footpedalcontrolled release, that upon release automatically lifts the hood.

Further and more particularly expressed obleots of the invention willappear as the description proceeds.

My invention may be embodied in the forms ilhistrated: Here Fig. 1 is aside elevation of the front of an automobile with a closed hood and withparts in section; Fig. 2 is a section substantially on line 2--2 of Fig.1; Fig. 3 is a front view of the dash board here shown in a smallerscale; Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the hood in open position;Fig. 5 is a modification of a cam.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive it will be seen that an automobilebody indicated generally at I!- is formed forwardly into a cowl at H.

The body interior has a front compartment i2 and the exterior has frontdoors l3 and exposed door pillars l4.

' The cowl is formed of ventilator shelf l5. hood ledge, hood ledge wallll, cowl side walls I8 and dash board 20. In front of the dash board isthe usual engine chamber 2|.

The body with its usual associated parts supports front fenders 22,usual adjustable radiator grille wall 23, front bumper 24, and a frontcross 6 member 25. l

A hood indicated generally at 26 is formed of a substantially horizontalwall 21, side walls 28, and nose 29 having a usual pilot pin 30 seatedin adjustable grille wall 23. Between the hood nose and grille wall arubber spacer 30' is provided. The hood is provided with a pair oflaterally spaced single hinge legs3i (only one shown) secured to hoodside walls 28 as by bolts 32. Leg

3| passes through a vertical opening 33 in hood ledge wall I1, and hereit is bent upwardly terminating in an eyelet having a normally verticalelongated slot 34.

Door pillars I4 are formed into rear walls 35.

Walls 35 and the dash board 20 are connected 20 by the usual cowl braces36 (only one is shown) having a hood longitudinal adjustment lockingbolt 21. This bolt passes through a turnable eccentric sleeve 38; thesleeve is placed in slot 34 in the end portion of hinge leg 3|. P It isimportant to note that normally the ee- 3 centric sleeve 38 is in themid-portion of slot 34; hence, it doesn't interfere with the seating ofthe hood, which is constantly seated on lining 40 on hood ledge l6.

To prevent engine noise and smell reaching the body an inexpensiverubber boot 4| is provided. For certain applications, howeve I mightprovide a metallic pocket (not shown).

The above described construction permits a quick and simple hoodmounting, as only the hinge legs need to be passed through the hoodledge wall openings. After the insertion and ad- .iustment of theeccentric sleeves they are locked in place, an operation performed fromthe inside 4; of the body. After this operation the adjustable radiatorgrille wall is secured in place.

To press the hood constantly downward when in closed position and tohold it in open position a pair of torsion rod springs 42 are provided.as Brackets 42 support these springs on d board 20, and are providedwith torsion limiting edges 43'. The bent end 44 of the spring 42 passesthrough an opening in bracket 43, thereby forming a spring anchor. Theopposite bracket forms the operative guide, the spring terminates in atriangular-shaped cam having a. pressing, face 45, lifting face to andan end-welded brace ti. Hinge leg 36 is provided with a stud 58,carrying a concave roller it for the reception oi-the c. d5

. front end is lifted, roller 50 approaches and then passes the junctionpoint of faces 45 and 46, and the springs will assist the lifting of thehood.

When face 46 is under the roller, the torsional forces in springs 42will hold the hood in open position as shown in Fig. 4. In this positionthe hinge end of face 46 is resting against the torsion limiting edge43'.

-Front cross-member 25 is provided with a hinge bracket 51, carrying asheet metal foot pedal 52 to which is welded normally vertical arms 53.The tops of these arms are interconnected by a. bolt 54, carrying roller55. Arms 53 at their mid-section are provided with a tension spring 56,anchored in cross-member 25. The upper part of arms 53 straddle a sheetmetal eccentric hood holding cam 51, a part of plate 58, secured to thehood nose in any desired manner. Above the cam and forwardly thereof thesheet metal is formed into a force lift cam 60. At the upper end ofplate 58 a fulcrum bolt 6| supports a lift rod 62. It is normally heldin the position illustrated in Fig. 1 by fiat spring 63.

It will be noted that the bottom end of rod 62 overlaps cam 60 and has aconcave end portion 64. In operation, when foot pedal 52 is depressed,roller 55 releases hood holding cam 51, and there-'- after by cam 60forcibly lifts the hood front end to the first stage. At the travellimit of the arms 53 roller 55 reaches to an aligned position of concaveend portion 64. Upon release of the foot pedal tension spring 56 willreturn arms 53 to a vertical position. This return by the engagement ofroller 55 and concave end portion 64 will utilize lift rod 62 as atoggle joint hood lifter, lifting the hood to the second stage. Beforethe second stage ends concave roller passes to the lifting face 46 ofthe triangle cam of torsion spring 42 which cam completes the operation.Here rod 62 is also freed and by spring 63 is returned to the relativeposition illustrated in Fig. 1.

For closing, the hood is simply pressed downward, pressing faces 45 holdit, and roller on cam 51 looks it in a self-tightening position.

For certain applications I eliminate the mechanical second stage liftingand dispense with parts 6|, 62 and 63 by forming a different trianglecam illustrated in Fig. 5. Here lifting face 46' is concave and. thejoining point of faces 45 and 46 is near the center of roller 50. It isso arranged that when depressing pedal 52 roller 56 passes from face 45to 46 when the hood might be assisted to reach the open position if aweak torsion spring is used.

Hood hinge constructions, where a spring does a double operation, is notnew with the applicant. Here, however, the springs are independentlysecured to the dash board as a subassembly and the usual six pointlinkage or three point linkage and bridge operating the coil springs iseliminated. The elimination of differential hinges makes easy operationof a complete hood opening by a light pressure on a foot pedal when sodesired. Whereas the end of the foot pedal here is illustrated as beingcentrally located between the radiator grille and front bumper, forcertain applications I might place it below the front bumper or offsetit from the center (not shown).

The applicant has here illustrated an alligator hood having largedepending side walls. This invention is applicable to any formofalligator hood; for example, where the hood side walls are stationary. V

What applicant claims as his invention:

1. In an automobile, a body, an alligator hood, single hinge meansconnecting said hood to said body, torsion rod spring means mounted onsaid body and having hood depressing and hood lifting positions, a pedaloperated releasable hood lock on said automobile, and means on said lockwhereby upon release of the same said hood is shifted from said hooddepressing position to said hood lifting position.

2. In an automobile, a body, an alligator hood, hinge means connectingsaid hood to said body, torsion rod spring means between said body andhood, and means on said torsion rod spring means depressing said hoodwhen in closed position and holding said hood open when in opn position.

3. In an automobile, a body, an alligator hood and a supportingstructure therefor, hinge means connecting said hood to said body, hoodlifting spring means between said hood and body, a selftightening springcontrolled releasable lock between said hood and said supportingstructure,

and means associated with said lock forcibly separating said hood fromsaid supporting structure upon release operation of said lock andplacing said hood over said lifting spring means.

' JULES HALTEN'BERGm.

